Accounts involved in sharing explicit content and pornography on Twitter: Report

New Delhi: Twitter is not only violating its own policies, but also breaking the law of land in India.

Various categories of pornography or explicit content that Twitter prohibits on its platforms such as child sexual exploitation and bondage porn exist after the implementation of its new policies, DisinfoLab said in a report.

In Twitter's porn drainage, a number of accounts share child porn regularly. This not only violates the latest IT Rules in India, but it is also in violation of Twitter`s 'zero-tolerance' policy.

The videos are otherwise also in violation of Twitter`s `gory` category of `permissible porn`, and given the explicit nature of such content, could be very easily identified through any worthwhile filtering mechanism. Worse, the child porn on Twitter is accessible to any user, even to young users of Twitter, or to a casual user on the internet, who doesn`t have a Twitter account, the report said.

The policy on non-consensual nudity is rendered ambiguous considering the conditions laid down for posting consensual adult content and pornography. Sharing of non-consensual adult videos/images of people, especially women and children, are commonplace on Twitter. Deep-Fake and Morphed pics of actresses and public figures are widely circulated and misused on the platform without the knowledge of the featured individual/individuals, the report said.

While Twitter does have a mechanism for users to `report` such violations, its implementation is opaque and arbitrary, it said.

On similar content, it may choose to block one account while similar others continue to operate. Surprisingly, Twitter has offered no tech solutions to identify and filter such content, as other social media platforms have, the report said.

Unless reported by the users, such content can easily be shared under the heading of sensitive content, it added.

This policy comes under the Ads Help Center of Twitter that prohibits paid promotion of adult sexual content such as pornography, escort services, nudity, sex toys, and other activities involving sexual arousal, etc., the report said.

While Twitter does adhere to this part of the bargain, now accepting paid promotions, it nonetheless allows for the promotion of such products and services organically, i.e., through regular posts, it said.

It means while Twitter may not officially promote the content, it would let it be promoted by third parties. This is in league with the ambiguity Twitter follows regarding the NSFW content in general, the report said.

Several `Bluetick` (verified) accounts and porn stars freely share explicit videos and pictures with no censorship from Twitter, Disinfo Lab said.

Twitter allows such accounts on its platforms, which, while does not violate their policies, breaks the law of land as these handles are accessible by the Indian users.

It is important to mention that Twitter, like the other social media platforms, does possess technical capabilities to restrict the access of some of its content/ handle to specific geographical locations. Therefore, it does not seem to be an issue of technical limitation.

Twitter doesn`t only allow the presence of such content, but also helps in its spread. The Twitter algorithm governing `suggestions` would guide you to multiple accounts of the same niche (porn content) if you happen to search or look at one of the handles. It essentially amplifies the availability of such explicit content to the users, the report said.

While it is not clear whether Twitter is willfully ignoring the law of the land, i.e., Indian prohibition on public sharing of porn content, or it has been oblivious; it continues to be the hub of vulgar and pornographic content available online. Surprisingly, such content is openly available on Twitter, including explicit porn prohibited by law.

Twitter, while allowing a teenager to open an account, doesn`t restrict their access to explicit content. Moreover, Twitter also doesn`t restrict the spread of porn content to India, where it is prohibited by the law. 

(With agency inputs)